Allan, how does playing in another tournament work practically? At IW I saw players knocked out in the challenge and also in the main, playing almost straight away in other tournies. Are there then always gaps in lesser tournaments? Must be an organisational nightmare.

Allan, how does playing in another tournament work practically? At IW I saw players knocked out in the challenge and also in the main, playing almost straight away in other tournies. Are there then always gaps in lesser tournaments? Must be an organisational nightmare.

Once the players are out of one tournament then they can play in another tournament as long as they have entered another tournament before hand and that they are out of the previous tournament before the main draw in the next tournament has started. So for example with Indian Wells and Miami, if they go out by the end of the 2nd round then they are free to play a Challenger in the next week as long as he or she is into the main draw (either by entering the tournament by its entry deadline and getting into by ranking, getting a wildcard or coming through the qualifying draw) and can travel to the tournament in time to play their R1 match. The player can request a to play their match a day or two later but that's up to the tournament to decided if it fits in with their tournament schedule.

Thanx Allan So you've almost got to predict you're going to do badly then. Oops

Not necessarily - no harm for the players in entering a challenger as a backup should they not qualify/get very far in the first tournament. Worst-case they play a challenger, best case they qualify/do well in the better tournament.

The Challenger will have a list of Alternates anyway, and many players that didn't enter originally can get in as Alternates as well. Worst-case scenario for the Challenger event organisers is a lucky loser or two getting into the main draw.

Anyway, good run last week from Jamie and a couple of impressive comebacks. Seems to be able to keep his head when it matters (staved off a number of break points when serving for the match in the QFs and had a couple of his own match points saved before finally taking it). Didn't realise he was ranked this high 4 years ago though! Similar age then to Dan Evans now. Hopefully Baker is now finally realising his ability and can push on into the top 200 and hopefully further. We only have James Ward in the top 200 after Murray and after his shocking run of form since his first challenger success way back in August (AO Qualies aside) he's in great danger of slipping right down come the summer.